Very true. I don't normally bother being so fastidious with my own
crosses because I rarely get insect-pollinated pods on anything but
siberians and dichotoma/domestica. Plus, since most of my crosses fail
to set pods anyways, it seems like a wasted effort to do anything
more. I would definitely take proper measures when producing seed to
give to anyone else.
I seem to remember seeing conflicting info about fall removal. It
removes the physical landing platform for insects, as well as the
signal, which presumably is usually marked in bright ultraviolet to
attract bees. The downside is that it's easy to damage the style arms
in the process.
One thing I tried when a plant was unlikely to be pollinated by
anything other than itself (only member of its series in my garden)
was to cut the stamens off before they released pollen, ensuring that
even if my wide cross failed, a successful pod would mean the bees
succeeded. That way I could still enjoy the flowers.
Sean Z
Quoting r*@juno.com:
> Sean wrote:
> To even try [hand pollination], I think I'd have to bag the buds to
> keep bees off the dichotoma, as they're very popular.
>
> In my opinion, any hand pollination always includes a method to prevent
> possible contamination by foreign pollen. I assume this to be the case
> with HP listed crosses in the seed ex, and hope that others will adhere
> to this practice.
>
> After all, if said hand pollinated flower would have produced seed
> without hand pollination, how did it get fertilized? This same
> unintended transfer of pollen would take place in addition if any hand
> pollination is performed, rendering the hand pollinated cross impure.
> ------------------------------
> Did I read somewhere (or am I imagining this) that removing the falls
> [and stamens too, of course] of an iris flower is an effective method of
> preventing fertilization contamination, due to the removal of a landing
> pad for insect pollinators? Does this also remove the scent glands?
>
> Rick Rodich
> just west of Minneapolis, MN
> zone 4
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